India stunned by failed dope tests ahead of Games

NEW DELHI: India’s sports chiefs said on Monday they were shocked at the growing number of dope offenders ahead of next month’s Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

Four wrestlers, a shot-putter and two swimmers who were all part of India’s Games squad have tested positive in recent days for methylhexaneamine, a banned stimulant used widely as a nasal decongestant.

Four others, who were not picked for the October 3-14 Games in the Indian capital, also failed drug tests conducted at the various training camps across the country.

“This is very unfortunate and brings the country a bad name,” said Games spokesman Lalit Bhanot.

“The government has a zero-tolerance policy towards this.”

Officials said they were surprised that the 11 athletes all tested positive for the same drug, which was included in the prohibited list of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) earlier this year.

“The training camps were not held at the same place,” said Rahul Bhatnagar, who headsIndia’s National Anti-Doping Agency. “But the authenticity of our testing methods cannot be questioned.

“We have a few more results to come in yet.”

Two female swimmers, Richa Mishra and Jyotsna Pansare, tested positive on Sunday, two days after three male wrestlers, Rajiv Tomar, Sumit Kumar and Masuam Khatri, female wrestler Gursharanpreet Kaur and male shot-putter Saurav Vij were suspended, pending tests of their ‘B’ samples.

All seven were due to compete in the Games.

Mishra, the best female swimmer at the recent national aquatics championships after winning three individual gold medals, denied any wrongdoing.

“I have been tested several times before in my career and have always returned negative,” she told the Indian Express newspaper.

“In fact, my father is even willing to spend money to get the test done from a different laboratory abroad.”

Doping has afflicted Indian sport over the last decade with weightlifters being the chief culprits.

The Indian weightlifting federation was fined 500,000 dollars by the world governing body after six lifters failed dope tests last year.

The federation managed to pay only 125,000 dollars and were forced to take an interest-free loan from Games organisers to pay the rest of the fine and ensure their participation in Delhi 2010. -AFP

Blair “may cancel” book-signing over protests

LONDON: Tony Blair said on Monday he was considering cancelling a book-signing in London this week to mark the launch of his memoirs, over fears the event would be hit by protests.

Three people were arrested after eggs and shoes were thrown at Blair, 57, as he arrived to sign copies of “A Journey” at a bookshop in Dublin on Saturday and some of the 200 protesters clashed with police.

No injuries were reported and the missiles did not hit Blair.

Anti-War campaigners and the far-right British National Party have said they would now protest on Wednesday at the Waterstone's branch in Piccadilly in central London over Blair's decision to join the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

“I don't want to put the public to a lot of hassle, the police to a lot of cost for what after all is a book-signing,” Blair told Sky News.

“I think it's sad if you can't go sign a book without people physically trying to prevent you. As we saw in Dublin there are hundreds more who want to come and have their book signed than want to cause protest.”

Tight security was already planned for the event. Waterstone’s said all bags and mobile phones would have to be checked in beforehand. Those attending have also been told not to try to solicit any personal messages.

In his memoirs, Blair -- now an envoy for the Quartet of Middle East peacemakers, the United States, Russia, the EU and the United Nations -- said he could have not have imagined what he called the “nightmare” that unfolded in Iraq.

He also echoed previous statements that the 2003 invasion was justified because Saddam Hussein posed a threat and could have developed weapons of mass destruction.

Speaking to media on Monday, Blair said the book was selling “fantastically well”, although he is also facing an internet campaign which has been set up to try to disrupt sales.

A group set up on the social networking site Facebook is calling for people to move copies into the “crime” section of bookstores.

“Make bookshops think twice about where they categorise our generations (sic) greatest war criminal,” said the campaign, which has attracted almost 7,000 members. – Reuters

Sialkot accused sent on three-day-long remand

LAHORE: An Anti-Terrorism Court on Monday handed over the 18 accused of the Sialkot lynching case to police for a three-day-long physical remand.

On request of the police, the court sent SHO Rana Ilyas, Constable Mubarak and the remaining 16 accused, on the remand.

The court also reprimanded a police constable for giving VIP protocol to accused SHO Ilyas.

Eighteen people, including the accused policemen, were arrested in relation with the murders of brothers, Mugheez and Muneeb, in Sialkot on August 15.

Ahmadinejad voices doubts about 9/11 attacks

DOHA: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has questioned the accepted narrative of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, saying it was still not clear who was behind them.

“Something happened in New York and still nobody knows who the main perpetrators of that act were,” Ahmadinejad told diplomats and newspaper editors late on Sunday while on a brief visit to Qatar.

“No independent people were allowed to try and identify the perpetrators,” he charged.

“They say terrorists were hidden in Afghanistan and NATO mobilised all its resources and attacked Afghanistan,” he said.

“They say that in the Twin Towers, 2,000 people were killed. In Afghanistan, so far more 110,000 have been killed.” Ahmadinejad has on several occasions questioned the accepted version of the 2001 attacks by Al-Qaeda militants, which killed nearly 3,000 people in the United States.

In March, he referred to the attacks as “a big lie,” Iranian state media reported.

Iran is locked in a standoff with Western governments over its nuclear programme.

The UN Security Council imposed a fourth round of sanctions on June 9 over Iran’s failure to heed repeated ultimatums to suspend uranium enrichment, the sensitive process which can produce fuel for nuclear reactors or, in highly extended form, the fissile core of an atomic bomb.

The European Union, Japan and the United States have all imposed additional sanctions of their own, over and above the UN ones.

Western governments suspect Iran’s nuclear programme is cover for a weapons drive, something Tehran strongly denies. – AFP

Government to investigate players’ assets: report

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government will investigate the assets of past and present cricketers after the International Cricket Council charged and suspended three Pakistan players over allegations of match fixing.

Local Urdu language daily Jang reported on Monday that the Federal Bureau of Revenue has instructed all its regional officers to collect details of bank accounts, assets and even the number of cars in the possession of players who have represented Pakistan over the last five years.

An FBR official, Israr Rauf, was quoted by the paper as saying the Pakistan Cricket Board will also be asked to submit its expenses for the players, selectors, coaches and managers.

The ICC last week charged and suspended Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir over allegations of match fixing, first raised in the News of the World newspaper. They were accused of conspiring with bookmakers to deliberately bowl no-balls during the fourth test against England at Lords. The three have also been questioned by British police.

The News of the World also claimed Sunday that a fourth Pakistan player is being investigated by the ICC, but that he cannot be named for legal reasons. The ICC has refused to comment on the report.

The News of the World said the three suspended players face a total of 23 charges from the ICC. It also alleged that at least 10,000 pounds of the marked bank notes the newspaper gave to middleman Mazhar Majeed in return for knowing when no-balls would be bowled in the recent test series against England had been recovered from Butt’s room. —AP

Another 141 Indian fishermen released

KARACHI: The fourth batch of 141 Indian fishermen left the Malir Jail for their home here on Monday via Wagah border.

A total of 442 fishermen have been released by the Pakistani government as a gesture of goodwill during the past one week.

The fishermen had been imprisoned for violating Pakistan’s territorial sea waters. — APP

Iraqi troops in spotlight as bombers kill 12

BAGHDAD: Iraqi security forces were under the spotlight Monday after a coordinated suicide attack on an army complex killed 12 people, with US troops among those who fired back in a bid to repel the operation.

American involvement in the response to Sunday's attack was the first reported such engagement for US forces in Baghdad since they declared an official end to combat operations in Iraq five days ago.

The morning attack targeted Rusafa military command headquarters, which only three weeks ago was hit by a massive suicide bombing that killed dozens of young men preparing to sign up.

Accounts varied between witnesses and US and Iraqi security forces, but the capital's security command said five suicide bombers had approached the compound in a minibus.

One was fired upon as he got out of the vehicle and his suicide vest detonated, Baghdad operations command said in a statement.

Two others fled to a nearby building, while the remaining two drove the vehicle towards soldiers, setting off their payload before they could be stopped.

Lieutenant Colonel Eric Bloom said a team of US military advisers is stationed at the complex, and when the attack came its security team provided “suppressive fire” against a building where the two insurgents were hiding.

“The team was there, and there was a small security element with them, and they did provide suppressive fire,” Bloom told AFP.

“They provided suppressive fire while the Iraqi army got into position to go in (to the building). There was some return fire -- the insurgents were firing down into the compound.

“It went on for mere minutes, it was over very quickly.”He added that the insurgents detonated their suicide vests before Iraqi soldiers could capture them.

Under the terms of a bilateral security pact, American soldiers are allowed to return fire in self-defence, and take part in operations if requested by their Iraqi counterparts.

Baghdad operations command, which is also based at the complex that was attacked, put the toll at 12 dead and 36 wounded. It was unclear how many of the victims were soldiers.

Bloom could not say how many US soldiers were involved in the incident, but said none was wounded. He added that the US military had provided bomb disposal support as well as surveillance with drones and Apache helicopters.

“I was waiting with three of my colleagues near an armoured car (when the attack occurred),” a policeman told AFP on condition of anonymity from Baghdad's Medical City hospital, slumped against the wall of the emergency room with bandages covering gunshot wounds to both of his legs.

“I was shot in two places, and I tried to hide behind the car. When I looked for my colleagues again, they were not there all I saw was blood and the vests that they had set aside.”

The policeman, visibly shaken, added that the vehicle that exploded was a red car that passed through a preliminary search before exploding at a second checkpoint.

The largest blast sent plumes of smoke into the skies over the capital, with nervous soldiers frisking any civilians who crossed Bab al-Muatham bridge, which connects the west side of Baghdad to Rusafa in the east.

The explosion caused extensive damage to nearby buildings and Dr Adil Saloom, director of the hospital's emergency department, said 20 patients had been treated.

The Rusafa headquarters, responsible for security on the eastern side of Baghdad, was being used as an army recruitment centre on August 17 when a suicide bomber detonated his payload, killing 59 people.

Sunday's explosion was the biggest to hit Baghdad since the recruitment centre attack, and it came four days after US forces officially transformed their role in Iraq from a combat mission to “advise and assist” operations, with fewer than 50,000 US troops now stationed here.

Vice President Joe Biden launched the new mission on Wednesday, saying that violence in Iraq was now at its lowest level since the war, but that same day official statistics said 426 people died in unrest last month, underscoring insurgents' continuing ability to kill.

The apparent spike in violence July was Iraq's deadliest month in more than two years comes amid a political impasse in which no new government has been formed since a general election in March. – AFP